I wonder if they tried to go supersonic into a turbine engine or they knew from propeller air craft that supersonic air can't go past the blades?
your question intrigued me. i dived into the "deep end of the pool" and seriously confused myself. stuff gave me a headache...but i learned something.
so yes, you're right again it seems..supersonic prop plane development work showed propellers can't easily accommodate/allow for any sustained supersonic flight without tearing up, and then with jets who needed a supersonic prop anyway?
long story short, what people knew about what we now routinely call "Computational Fluid Dynamics" (CFD) goes back before the airplane was even invented. Rankine-Hugoniot equations from the 1860's (yep 150 years ago) for the propagation of shock waves. Ernst Mach was taking pictures of supersonic bullets in the 1880's and related ballistic work that gave a "name" to supersonic flight speeds..before it ever took place.
All through the first half of 20th century...before the machines that could even do it were created...they learned from wind tunnel work, prop (turbo) planes, and early jet engines that to break the sound barrier you had the manage shock waves' effects on BOTH the airframe and the power plant (stuff you obviously know with your professional certs).
The Lockheed guys showed the world how sustained Mach 3 flight could be accomplished with A-12/SR 71. and the story of the J-58 development work Lockheed and Pratt-Whitney did to manage inlet start/unstart was fascinating even though i understood less that 1/3 of it.
cool stuff..thanks for your time.
